Monday, October 6, 2014

A Matter of Concern for All of Us

"You should really care that the German Ethics Council (a government committee) has pronounced that Germany's laws banning consensual incest between adult brothers and sisters ought to be abolished.

"Now, it's not because Germany's laws directly affect the United States; they don't, of course. And even within Germany itself, the ruling party of Chancellor Angela Merkel has indicated that it doesn't plan on following the council's recommendation.

"The reason why Americans — and especially American liberals — should care about the council's ruling is that it gives us a glimpse of America's future.

"The German council's position is based on the claim that 'the fundamental right of adult siblings to sexual self-determination' overrides all other moral considerations, including 'the abstract idea of protection of the family.'"

I don't necessarily support the "slippery slide" argument as this articale does. But I do think the argument based on "the fundamental rights of sdult siblings to sexual self-determination" is very troubling.

It is the same assumption that guides almost all our sexuality discussions in this country as well. You don't have to be a "slippery slopist" to see a very possible future based on this assumption proposed for our country.

And as long as the above assumption trumps every other consideration, and it is hard to see how it would fail to do so, such a proposal would be hard to argue against.

The individual's absolute right to self-determination is the issue at hand.

This assumption is life and death for the church. It comes from our first parents' failure in the Garden and underwrites the history of sin from that moment forward. It is an expression necessary and vital for freedom and maturity in certain circumstances and within particular ways of thought. But as a foundational premise for human life and society. the church must reject it and pose an alternative view of human life based on divine revelation.